Cognitiver Disability + Participation at CSUN WWW9 .....

RE: Paid invitation to attend.

I'd also love to attend and discuss the issue of cognitive disability.
I have mentioned this to many members, and state it once again.
The nature of the work, is that much is voluntary, and little well paid.

Yesterday we had a masseur for the day working around the staff and
students, a little perk.

I suspect Anne works rather more hours than me.
However we are basically in a similar situation, i only wish I could make
such forceful statements so well. I always seem to be in a rush.

Anne wrote:

I participate only because I care deeply
about this portion of the disabled population who gets downtrodden badly
enough by life "as we know it" anyway. I give the time to the project that
I can, but I can't do the work of the whole group all by myself. I would
love to be able to attend the upcoming conference and address you in
person, but I would have to finance it myself and cannot do so.


jay@peepo.com

Jonathan Chetwynd
special needs teacher and
web accessibility consultant.
----- Original Message -----
From: Anne Pemberton <apembert@crosslink.net>
To: Bruce Bailey <bbailey@clark.net>; Jonathan Chetwynd <jay@peepo.com>;
Gregory J. Rosmaita <unagi69@concentric.net>
Cc: Web Content Accessiblity Guidelines Mailing List <w3c-wai-gl@w3.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 10:26 PM
Subject: RE: Text equivalents


> At 02:09 PM 3/15/2000 -0500, Bruce Bailey wrote:
> >Anne,
> >I think Gregory's point is that we should be looking for model
pages/sites
> >that meet your and Jonathan's expectations that are *ALSO* P1 compliant.
> >There is not much virtue to addressing cognitive issues if such
> >accommodations break the pages for other users.
>
> Bruce, some part of the point Jonathon and I are making is that it may not
> yet be possible to both comply to the current guidelines and accommodate
> the needs of those who got to the breakfast table last. I could much more
> easily point out pages which are "P1 compliant" that are useless to most
of
> the disabled folks (the cognitively disabled, remember, are present in
> greater numbers in the population than those who would perceive such pages
> as "broken", and even greater number than the "rich folks" whose toys are
> touted as deserving of accommodation. Certainly, this discussion group
> should consider the needs of ALL disabled folks equally, not giving
> preference to one group or another.
>
> I'm not sure how similar Jonathan's situation is to mine, but I am in this
> group as an individual. I do not get paid, nor am I encouraged in any way
> by my employer to participate. I participate only because I care deeply
> about this portion of the disabled population who gets downtrodden badly
> enough by life "as we know it" anyway. I give the time to the project that
> I can, but I can't do the work of the whole group all by myself. I would
> love to be able to attend the upcoming conference and address you in
> person, but I would have to finance it myself and cannot do so.
>
> In the past, Jonathon and I have been asked to point out sites that were
> appropriate for the audience we discuss, and it has been difficult to find
> ones that were appropriate and not strictly entertainment. Now you expect
> us to only report on appropriate sites that are compliant to guidelines
> that literally ignore the needs of this group. Why? If you are one of the
> members of this group who is well-addressed by the guidelines, and you are
> frustrated because the sites appropriate for our folks unusable, perhaps
it
> would be well for you to reflect on how these folks may feel when they pay
> taxes for sites you can use and they cannot before you display anger.
>
> I have, since you wrote, replied to Greg's points. I could do so only
> because I am home today with a malady that is either a bad cold or a nasty
> attack of spring allergy. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to reply
> except to perhaps one response per night when I got home from work. I have
> put in some six hours to replies today between sneezes, coughs, tissues
and
> C-tablets. Of course, if someone wanted to pay me to just work on these
> issues, I could and would do more. Wanna volunteer?
>
> Anne
>
>
> Anne L. Pemberton
> http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
> http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
> apembert@crosslink.net
> Enabling Support Foundation
> http://www.enabling.org
>

Received on Friday, 17 March 2000 08:57:48 UTC